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Image from The Star from the article "Song causes a buzz"

At a press conference earlier today in JW Marriott, Kuala Lumpur, the singer was revealed from behind an orange curtain…to a chorus of groans, cheers and “whatttt??”, and “seriously?”

The song has gotten lots of interest on Twitter, and even in the mainstream media - The Star mentioned that it “caused quite a buzz“, and “everyone wanted to know who was behind it”.

The singer was revealed to be non other than Asmawi bin Ani, better known as Mawi - the winner of Season 3 of Akademi Fantasia. It was revealed that this song “Through My Window”, was the start of what would be a side project for him. And that he would be playing with a band, which explains the pixelated images of four people being credited with a song on the official site.

Mawi, lead singer of "Tsu-Mawi And The World" showing off his new indie rock look at the press conference earlier today.

During the 1 hour press conference, where coffee, sirap bandung and “kuih Mawi” was served, the band name was revealed to be “Tsu-Mawi & The World”.

The sponsor behind this effort was also revealed to be non other than TM (formerly known as Telekom Malaysia). This is not Mawi and TM’s first collaboration, as TM was a major sponsor of Mawi’s latest film, Jin Notti.

Said Aziz A. Hadi, TM vice-president and product manager explains that TM is not restricting its involvement to only education and sports events.He adds: “TM is now expanding into the art and entertainment industry and has made the decision to support Mawi so that the local music industry keeps growing. Mawi is a succesful artiste, and has proven himself and we fully support Mawi’s move into the burgeoning indie rock scene.”

Mawi also explained his choices on why he launched a new band:

Said Mawi “Saya dah cuba banyak ‘genre’ musik bertahun-tahun ni. Lagi pop, lagu r&b, lagu dangdut dan juga nasyid”.

“Tapi, satu jenis musik yang saya belum cuba adalah apa tu orang putih panggil ‘alternative rock’ atau ‘indie rock’. Stail musik ini telah dipopularasikan oleh kugiran dari negeri Barat seperti ‘All American Rejects’, ‘Simple Plan’, Fall Out Boy’ ‘Boys Like Girls’, ‘Michael Learns to Rock’ dan juga kugiran tempatan seperi ‘Hujan’ dan ‘Bunkface’.

Mawi continued explaining his decision to go into the alternative rock scene: “Album sales…saya dah jual banyak giler. Diestimasikan bahawa 55% dari populasi Malaysia sudah beli album saya. Dan, kami tahu bahawa populasi Malaysia yang berbangsa Melayu adalah 60%. Dari segi bisnes, dengan menyanyi lagu indie rock dalam Bahasa Inggeris saya dapat mencapai market baru! Dari research kami, dilihat bahawa orang Cina dan orang India tak banyak mendengar lagu tempatan dalam Bahasa Malaysia”.

“Sebagai artis, saya mesti terus berinovasi, oleh sebab itu saya cuba genre music baru. Lihat macam mana si Madonna telah cuba menginovasi imej dia. Walaupun dia sama tua seperti nenek saya, dia masih ada imej yang seksi dan banyak kostum yang menarik”.

A picture from the recording session of "Through My Window" with "Tsu-Mawi & The World"

Mawi stated he had big aspirations for the song, and the upcoming album: “Dengan menyanyi dalam Bahasa Inggeris, kugiran saya boleh juga target market eksport - ke negeri Barat dan negeri Asia Timur Selatan. Market di luar negara best tau - you tahu tak itu band Pop Shuvit? Mereka menjual lebih album di Jepun daripada Malaysia! Tak baik jadi jaguh kampung sahaja, saya nak mengemukakan 1Mawi untuk 1Dunia.“

Then, quipped Mawi: “Macam tu baru WORLD!”. The press and audience at the event went wild with laughter after he said that. After the 35 minute interview, the press conference was ended with a stunning performance by the newly revealed “Tsu-Mawi & The World”. Mawi in particular gave a particularly energetic performance - and indicative of his new style, he smashed his guitar stylistically at the end.

By the way: Here’s the video to the song, now with visuals! Okay, it’s a leaked one, so it’s incomplete:

So, what do you think? Will Mawi succeed in his indie rock flirtation? The viral campaign has been unprecedented, and response to his debut single has been amazing, but will he be a one hit wonder or continue to pump out strong, catchy indie rock tracks?

Update (9PM) Ahem. Guys, it’s a prank. The real singer is Bunkface, not Mawi. Go check out the real  everyoneconnects.net website here.

It’s amazing how many of you fell for my little prank though. Hehe! Congrats to TM, Bunkface and the agencies for a job well done.

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